Poll suggests most Americans don’t like how Trump uses Twitter

Do you think President Trump’s penchant for Twitter diatribes is doing more harm than good? You’re not alone… in fact, you might be in the majority. ABC News and the Washington Post have conducted a national poll suggesting that 67 of Americans disapprove of Trump’s use of Twitter. They’re more likely to use negative descriptions of his behavior, such as “dangerous,” “insulting,” and “inappropriate,” and unlikely to use positives like “interesting,” “effective” and “refreshing.” And no, this isn’t as skewed by political leanings as you might think: only 41 percent of Republican supporters believe the tweets are refreshing, for instance.

The news outlets add that the the value of Trump’s Twitter use drops sharply among anyone who isn’t a white man. About 78 percent of women call his tweets inappropriate versus 58 percent of men, while 65 percent of non-white people see them as dangerous versus 46 percent for whites.

It’s important to take the poll with a grain of salt. While ABC and WaPo used scientific methods, they covered only 1,001 random people — that’s a decent poll size, but it’s not guaranteed to extrapolate to the American voting population. Also, Republicans were a relative minority at 23 percent of respondents versus 35 percent Democrats and 35 percent independents. While that won’t necessarily change some figures, it’s not a perfect microcosm of American voting habits.

And of course, there’s a simple reality: whatever the poll indicates is unlikely to sway minds. Trump certainly won’t alter his behavior (unless lawsuits dictate otherwise) given his record of dismissing all negative polls. Likewise, your view will depend in large part on whether or not you agree with Trump’s tweets in the first place. The one certainty from the poll is that Trump’s use of Twitter is far more contentious than that of his predecessor.

Via: CNET

Source: ABC News

In a fragmented VR market, one company wants to unite them all

Virtual reality is a mainstream phenomenon these days, with major headsets like the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive now increasingly in consumer hands. There’s even a flourishing market in the lower-end, with Samsung’s Gear VR and Google’s DayDream leading the way. But with so many different platforms, the VR market is getting increasingly fragmented.

One company, however, is planning on a headset that can run on not just one major VR platform, but three (Oculus, SteamVR and Daydream). What’s more, it has positional tracking, an eight-hour battery life and while it can be used with SteamVR while tethered to the PC, it can also be standalone while on Android. It’s made by GameFace Labs, and it promises to be the one headset to rule them all.

If the name GameFace Labs sounds familiar, you might remember it from when we covered it at CES 2014. We had given the Best of CES award to the Crystal Cove edition of the Oculus Rift, which was the best and most forward-looking piece of VR tech we saw at the time. Yet, we also took a look at what GameFace Labs had, which was a standalone VR headset that ran on Android. The prototype was pretty rough around the edges, but the proof-of-concept was there. It worked.

Three years later, and the VR landscape has changed. GameFace Labs’ plans to put its headset in stores fell by the wayside. But instead of faltering, the company evolved. Now, it’s focusing its efforts on making a headset that’s compatible with as many systems as possible. The result: A surprisingly capable and powerful piece of hardware that could very well be the future of VR headsets.

We took a look at the current prototype — which the company calls the EP1 — and as you can imagine it’s very different from the MarkIV we saw in 2014. It’s still standalone and it still runs on Android, but now it’s equipped with the latest NVIDIA Tegra SOCs, making it much more powerful than your regular smartphone. Hook it up to a PC, and you can run SteamVR content just like with the Vive.

Other specs include two 90Hz 2,560 x 1,440 display panels (custom made by Samsung) with a 120-degree field of view. There’s also 3D-tracking technology thanks to Intel’s RealSense cameras and Leap Motion’s hand tracking sensors. It also has a unique technology that lets GameFace download content up to 100 times faster than traditional downloading methods, which Ed Mason, GameFace’s CEO and Founder, says enables instant gratification VR content with zero latency.

“Everything is cloud delivered but locally rendered for a latency free VR cloud gaming experience,” says Mason. It even has a built-in fan that promises to keep things nice and cool during operation.

GameFace partnered with Valve to support SteamVR. The EP1 is thus completely compatible with Valve’s Lighthouse room-scale, sub-millimeter positional tracking. Indeed, if you take a look at the front faceplate, it has the same pockmark array of sensors of the Vive, and it’s compatible with HTC’s Lighthouse base stations and with the Vive wand.

This makes the GameFace headset the first ever standalone headset with Lighthouse positional tracking in an Android environment. That means that If a developer already has an app on Daydream, they can use Gameface’s SDK to make it compatible with the more advanced tracking technology, allowing them to have Daydream apps that utilize the same kind of Lighthouse capabilities as more advanced Valve hardware. It promises to make Daydream games way more immersive.

The addition of positional tracking makes the GameFace compatible with controllers that have six degrees of freedom (this is when controllers are actually trackable objects in the space, which allows for greater immersion). Mason says that the final version of the headset will ship with a single Lighthouse base station, mostly for ease of setup, and also because it doesn’t need more than just the one.

The EP1 also works with ReVive, a piece of software that lets you play Oculus-exclusive games. And, as the whole thing runs entirely on Android, it also has native Daydream support built right in. This means it can play any Google Cardboard or Daydream content as well. Mason does warn, however, that the GameFace headset is not Daydream-certified. GameFace has its own UI that lets the user launch any of these platforms from within the headset.

With all of that technology crammed into one standalone headset, you might think it would be pretty clunky. But while the prototype does look quite large, the entire unit is actually surprisingly lightweight. I strapped it onto my head without a problem and it didn’t weigh down my face at all. But while the GameFace headset is standalone, it’s not entirely untethered.

The EP1 prototype headset was attached to a battery pack dongle of sorts, which Mason says you can tuck in your back pocket. Eventually, Mason hopes to incorporate controller functionality into that battery dongle, so you would have it in your hand instead. Also, this way you won’t need to buy an additional controller with the headset.

Speaking of controllers, I tried out the EP1 headset with both Google’s Daydream handheld remote and the Vive wand in a simple white room demo setup. I could move the remote and point at certain objects, represented by a red dot that turns blue (and vice versa). The Vive controller, on the other hand, was mapped to a ball that moved as my hand moved. The demo itself was a little glitchy, but the proof of concept was there.

GameFace says this headset is targeted at developers, so that devs can create content for a variety of different platforms without having to purchase lots of expensive hardware. There are two models that developers can choose from; the GF-DD, which is the basic Daydream headset, and GF-LD, which adds on the Lighthouse positional tracking. The GF-DD is around $500 while the GF-LD will cost about $700. That’s not cheap, but it’s still more affordable than buying multiple headsets and hardware.

“I think one of the biggest holdbacks for VR is content,” says Mason. “The fact is that the people who are pushing the content, they’re not Triple A studios, they’re the indies. These are the guys who can’t afford to buy $10,000 to $15,000 worth of six to seven different headsets just so they can release $5 to $10 apps on six different stores. This is hampering development quite significantly.”

Of course, Facebook, Google and other companies are coming out with standalone VR headsets, too. But none of them are as multi-platform as the one GameFace proposes. Mason says some of them are just nothing more than cannibalized mobile phones with the phone parts taken out. They aren’t nearly as powerful or as long-lasting.

Interestingly, however, GameFace Labs is happy to license their technology to anyone who asks. Indeed, the company is actually in talks with various OEMs and industry leaders in VR right now to incorporate this tech in upcoming headsets. In a very real way, GameFace’s EP1 headset represents the future of VR.

As for entering the consumer market themselves, GameFace says it’ll certainly do that eventually, but for now, it wants to build up the field first. “What we’re trying to do is build one headset that is trying to unify a rapidly fragmenting industry,” he says. “What we really are is a VR enabling company.”

This little delivery robot is carrying a belly full of sushi

If you thought that food-delivery robots originated in futuristic, ‘bot-obsessed Japan, you’d be wrong. In fact, delivery robots showed up in San Francisco, London and Los Angeles first. Now, however, cute little red sushi-delivery ‘bots from ZMP are headed to the office parks and non-sidewalk areas of Japan, according to a report on RocketNews24.

The Japanese robotics company ZMP has created a cute little red robot that can apparently hold food for up to 60 people. Originally created in 2014 to deliver food to folks who can’t get out to do their own shopping, the three-foot-tall CarriRo Delivery ‘bot can autonomously navigate walkways with the use of cameras and laser sensors. It can travel up to 3.73 miles per hour, which is like a fast walk if you’re human. Plus? It has little headlights for nighttime deliveries. The robotics company has partnered with Ride On Express, which carries the popular sushi brand Gin no Sara.

Current Japanese law isn’t super clear on allowing autonomous robots into public sidewalks, so the current plan is to only operate the CarriRo in private areas, like office parks and the like. Hopefully, though, once the legalities are dealt with, Japanese pedestrians may encounter these little red ‘bots zipping to and fro to deliver sushi to folks all around the city.

Via: Fast Company

Source: ZMP Robotics, RocketNews24

Apple Clears App Store of VPN apps and ad-blockers

Why it matters to you

If you’re using a VPN-based ad blocker for your iPhone or iPad, Apple might soon remove it from the App Store completely or keep you from being able to update the current version.

Apple reportedly altered its policy relating to apps that involve ad blockers on the App Store, as was revealed when a developer’s app updates were rejected, 9to5Mac reports. A developer reached out to the site claiming the company reversed its policy on VPN-based ad-blocker applications — which install certificates on the device itself resulting in blocked advertisements in Safari and other-third party applications.

The developer — Tomasz Koperski, who is involved with popular apps such as Weblock and Adblock — explained that Apple stopped accepting updates to the applications because they violate the App Store Developer Guidelines. The requirement states that if your app is not unique, useful, or provides some sort of entertainment value, then it will not be accepted.

The policy is apparently based on section 4.2.1 of the guidelines, stating that APIs and frameworks should only be used for intended purposes, and Apple might not consider adblocking as one of them. The guidelines include examples like Homekit which should provide home automation services and Healthkit for health and fitness purposes.

After Koperski appealed the rejection to the App Review Board, a member of the Review Team reportedly responded by explaining that Apple has officially changed its policy in terms of VPN/root certificate based ad blockers — and updates for existing apps using this particular method will not be accepted, MacRumors noted. With such a supposed shift, the only adblock apps officially allowed on the App Store are any that use the Safari Content Blocker — which only blocks ads in Safari instead of VPN-based clients that block ads within all applications.

However, Apple recently responded to 9to5Mac to clarify that the guideline is not new, and apps that are designed to interfere with the performance or capabilities of other apps were never allowed on the App Store. The company also said it would take down apps that managed to sneak their way onto the App Store, and that contain features that offer to block advertising in third-party apps.

To add to its reasoning, Apple assures it has always supported advertising as one of the various ways developers are able to make money with apps. Since the App Store’s launch in 2008, its global developer community has earned over $70 billion — so the company is no stranger to helping developers make a profit.

For now, it seems users can continue to use the current version of ad-blocking apps downloaded onto their devices. However, future updates will not be permitted.

Some of us might soon be living on artificial floating mega islands

Why it matters to you

Artificial mega islands could let us make better use of the 70 percent of the planet that is covered in water.

It is one thing to come up with a wacky idea for transforming our cities or constructing the world’s greatest supervillain evil lair; another to have the expertise and inclination to actually research and build one for real. A new research project coming out of the Netherlands quite handily ticks both boxes. Developed by researchers at the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN), their idea is to develop giant artificial islands like today’s floating docks — only on a much, much bigger scale. Like, several miles wide bigger.

And they may just pull it off, too.

“With the world’s increasing population there is not necessarily enough space in the cities, or close to the coast where a lot of people live and work,” Olaf Waals, project manager and the concept developer, told Digital Trends. “These are also areas that are susceptible to flooding with rising sea levels. We thought it was an interesting idea to look at the technical feasibility of building floating mega islands. There are lots of futuristic concepts out there for floating harbors, farms, or cities. We wanted to look at how realistic a proposition this actually is, and come up with a workable concept.”

Waals’ idea involves modular giant triangles which lock together to form sizeable land masses, up to 3.1 miles in width. At least in theory, it is a pretty nifty idea. Given that 70 percent of our planet is covered by water, floating mega islands offer a whole lot more space to play with. They could be used for housing and recreation, or for the generation and storage of sustainable energy technologies like offshore wind farms, tidal energy, and floating solar panels, or for floating farms for breeding fish and seaweed.

Right now, the MARIN team is busy running computer simulations and testing a physical scale model to try and better understand the environmental conditions such a mega island would have to contend with. These potential challenges involve working out how to develop structures that are strong and safe enough to withstand winds and currents; how best to connect them together and to the seabed; and the environmental impact a water-bound floating community would have on its surroundings.

With a consortium of around 20 companies and research institutes now attached, work on the project is set to continue for the next three years. And after that? Our childhood dream of a real-life Waterworld hopefully becomes a reality.

Is it too early to start an online petition to get Kevin Costner appointed as mayor of the first floating mega city? We think not!

This collapsible 2-ounce solar lamp is saving refugees’ lives

Why it matters to you

Food and water may seem like our most important resources, but light plays a big role as well. Here to bring that resource to everyone is the SolarPuff.

You can literally have a pocketful of sunshine thanks to the latest invention to come out of Solight Design. It’s called the SolarPuff, and it’s a two-ounce solar lamp that can be collapsed into a flat sheet or expanded into a 4.5-inch cube. And while some may use them for their gardens, their pools, or their camping adventures, the SolarPuffs are also being used by refugees and those in developing countries as a source of light when all else seems dark.

Invented by Alice Min Soo Chun, who is also the founder and CEO of Solight Design, the SolarPuff provides much-needed illumination to many Syrian refugees who must find their way to a new home, sometimes in the dead of night. NGO volunteers have been handing out these SolarPuffs to help refugees navigate uncertain environments and uncertain times.

“A lot of times the kids are suffering from trauma and they’re frightened, but when they’re handed the light, they perk up,” Chun told Fast Company. In particular, the origami design of the SolarPuff, which allows the light to pop into action, “gives [the children] a sense of wonder.” Thus far, Fast Company reports that the SolarPuff has helped to reduce camp crime, including child kidnappings and sex trafficking. In fact, over the last year, there has been a 20-percent decrease in sexual assault in refugee camps. Chun notes that much of this can be attributed to the presence of light, which discourages would-be attackers as it removes the cover of darkness.

The light itself can last for up to eight hours and only needs sunlight to recharge. The lamp also comes with various settings for different light needs (high or low) as well as a blinking option that can signal distress or scare off an animal.

The SolarPuff has actually been around since 2015, when Chun first brought the solar lamp to Kickstarter. The project raised $500,000 in 30 days from over 6,800 backers, and Chun has never looked back. Ultimately, the goal is to bring sustainable, eco-friendly light to all parts of the world. “Eventually I want to do a SolarPuff house that’s completely self-sustaining and off the grid and you’ll be able to sell your energy back to the grid,” Chun said. But for now, this pocketful of sunshine will do.

Take a sneak peek at Apple’s upcoming emojis on World Emoji Day

Why it matters to you

These are just a few of the emojis you’ll have to play with on your iOS device later this year.

Last month, the Unicode Consortium unveiled the latest version of the Unicode text standard, Unicode 10. The release contains a new set of emojis, though hardware and software companies will have to update their devices to add them. To celebrate World Emoji Day, Apple has provided a sneak peek at its rendition of some of the emojis that are expected to arrive on its products with the iOS 11 update.

Apple shared the emojis via a post on its Newsroom blog. The new entries include a zombie, a woman with a headscarf, a T. rex, a zebra, and even an emoji vomiting. In total, there are 12 shown in the preview — just a fraction of the 56 new emojis included in Unicode 10.

Apple

Apple

Apple

The design of emojis is actually one of the little touches that separates platforms like iOS and Android, MacOS and Windows, or even social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Many users have a preference for a certain company’s emoji style — which is perhaps part of the reason that Google will change its controversial “blob” emojis to more traditional looking ones in the next major Android release.

For this reason, the release of a new Unicode standard version doesn’t immediately give us all new emojis to play with. Unicode doesn’t dictate the style of the emojis full-stop — just the content, alongside its own design suggestions that can be followed as closely or loosely as tech companies deem fit. At the same time, many of these same companies also sit on the Consortium, so they typically each offer suggestions that are taken into account as the standard develops.

It’s a surprisingly complicated affair, made more difficult because it’s up to Unicode to balance the continued need for inclusiveness and representation with the practical element of releasing the most relevant or requested emojis in the quickest time frame. Sometimes, this means new emojis actually replace old ones that have fallen out of usage, rather than simply being added to the running tally — 2,666 as of June 2017, according to Emojipedia.

Apple was not the only company to celebrate emojis on their special day. Over the weekend, Facebook preempted today’s festivities with some interesting data on the world’s most popular emojis, as well as the ones with the greatest usage in each territory. Not to be outdone, Apple went even further in its celebrations, changing movie titles to emojis at the top of the iTunes Movies store.

20 fast and fluid news apps for iPhone and Android

The technology industry has well and truly infiltrated the publication world. Facebook launched Instant Articles, Google launched an open source platform for publishers with Twitter, and Apple has its own proprietary News app. At the same time, Flipboard, Yahoo, LinkedIn, and AOL have continued to update their respective news apps, showing there is a lot of interest in the world of news on mobile platforms. Flipboard’s overhaul of its app shows how these news apps can make it so much easier for you to keep up with the latest news. That said, below are our top picks for the best news apps, whether you’re a die-hard news junkie or merely a casual purveyor of world affairs.

BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed took the world by storm with its viral listicles and other fun content. The app consolidates everything in one place, while allowing to customize the types of articles you see to suit your tastes. You can also browse the menu to view quizzes, what’s trending, or news if you want to further hone your search. BuzzFeed also has a hard news app, which you can get here.

Download now from:

iTunes Google Play

SmartNews

SmartNews brings you trending stories and categorizes them based on the subject. It’s clutter-free, easy to browse through, and good at digging up fresh content that you’ll actually want to read. Partners include NBC News, Medium, USA Today, TIME, Bleacher Report, Quartz, VICE, Reuters, AP, Perez Hilton, and more.

Download now from:

iTunes Google Play

Google News & Weather

It isn’t Google Reader, but Google News & Weather offers a wide variation of news stories from multiple publishers. Alongside the headlines and local weather, users can browse “Suggested for you,” an area for news stories catered to your most recent searches. Users are also able to highlight an individual topic, such as technology, for all of the current news.

Download now from:

iTunes Google Play

Feedly

The death of Google Reader was a tragedy for a lot of avid users, but for Feedly, it was a blessing. The news aggregator noticed a huge wave of new users within weeks, and has since improved its mobile service to make it easier to save, read, and bookmark articles. You can select multiple publications from Feedly’s search board, sort them into topics, and save articles for later viewing with bookmarks.

Download now from:

iTunes Google Play

Flipboard

Flipboard created a new type of reading experience on mobile, one focused on engaging the reader with the most exciting stories of the day and a magazine-style aesthetic. Hundreds of publications are now available on the news reader, and Flipboard offers a generous amount of topics, whether you’re into technology as a whole or the Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Download now from:

iTunes Google Play

Yahoo News Digest

Yahoo’s $30 million acquisition of Summly was all about redesigning News Digest, and the finished product is a marvel. It offers 10 of the top stories in your region, capitalizing on Summly’s artificial intelligence technology as it does to present the information in a tidy package. The news changes every few hours, too, giving you important updates throughout the day.

Download now from:

iTunes Google Play

Reddit

Reddit finally launched an official Reddit app last year, and the app quickly became one of the best ways to experience Reddit on Android and iOS. Reddit is a great way to keep up with the latest news through the various subreddits — Android news would be submitted to /r/Android, for instance — and users upvote popular content and comment on it.

Download now from:

iTunes Google Play

Apple News

Apple News comes pre-loaded on every iOS device, and sadly, like most of Apple’s apps, it remains unavailable on Android platforms. The News app places a big focus on images and quick loading videos, and publications such as The New York Times and National Geographic have partnered with the company to make their content readily available. Users are also able to follow trends or individual topics, ranging from vague areas like politics to niche topics such as HTML5.

Read more here:

Apple

LinkedIn Pulse

LinkedIn Pulse received a much needed update a few months ago, but most of the functionality remains the same. Users are able to select articles from publishers or people, and use their LinkedIn account to sign in. Pulse also touts its own video player and staff, which allows the team to curate the most important stories in the business world.

Download now from:

iTunes Google Play

AOL Mail, News & Video

AOL is still kicking, even if it is now a small segment in Verizon’s media empire. Thankfully, since the acquisition, there have been regular updates to its Mail, Weather, and News app. The app even offers a dedicated news feed lined with local weather, topical news, and video sections.

Download now from:

iTunes Google Play

News Republic

News Republic offers a collection of articles based on trends and personal preferences, letting you see what everyone else is reading and what you’re interested in. For users with limited time, the service also offers a digest, so you can casually check the headlines without having to delve into the full article.

Download now from:

iTunes Google Play

Pocket

Ever read an interesting headline, but don’t have time to dive into the story? Pocket is the perfect app for you. The popular app lets you store news for later reading, and offers a simple user interface that lets find the articles you saved, bookmark them, and archive others you want to come back to. Pocket recently launched a Recommended feature, too, which lets you check what friends and other users have saved.

Download now from:

iTunes Google Play

AP Mobile

Associated Press covers news from all around the world, with a huge team of dedicated reporters that focus on all manners of topics and trends. The service’s companion app comes free of the usual glitz and glam that other news services offer, but for people who enjoy getting the facts and little else, it’s a useful resource.

Download now from:

iTunes Google Play

BBC News

The BBC is another worldwide news organization dedicated to keeping you up to date on the latest topics and news stories. Unlike AP Mobile, however, the BBC News app offers a bit more fun with its articles, along with a live-streaming news channel that’s baked directly into its app.

Download now from:

iTunes Google Play

CNN App

CNN was the first 24-hour cable news channel, and its official app essentially functions as a condensed version of the site. It offers a wide variety of articles, primarily with a on U.S. audiences. Video also plays a larger part on CNN than it does on the BBC, so for fans of video news, this is the app for you.

Download now from:

iTunes Google Play

Al Jazeera English

Al Jazeera was the first 24-hour news channel to cover the Middle East, and has become one of the most popular and established publications in the region. Thankfully, it also reports on news from around the globe, whether talking the effects of El Niño in California or the education rate of kids in rural Sudan.

Download now from:

iTunes Google Play

Inoreader

This app is another news aggregator that brings all the news to you, instead of you having to check every news site individually. It allows you to save web pages for later viewing and search for content you’ve liked in the past. You can subscribe to news feeds covering technology, business, politics, and more. You can even subscribe to your favorite YouTube channels. It’s compatible with Android or iOS, and there’s a version designed especially for iPads.

Download now for:

Android iOS

theScore

If you’re into sports — whether it’s the NFL, NBA, NHL, Premier League Soccer, you name it — it’s in this app. It offers rich information, including detailed stats that you don’t get on many apps. If you want real time scores with an app that specializes in sports, then this app is a must. If you’re an iOS user, the best part is that there’s an Apple Watch app, too.

Download now for:

Android iOS

NPR News Radio

If you would rather listen to your news on the go, instead of reading, then the NPR News Radio app is a consistently good performer when it comes to user ratings. Follow, and listen, to local and national news on your smartphone. You can create a playlist of your favorites, or listen to public radio podcasts. The app also lets you find stations based on your current location using your smartphone’s GPS.

Download now for:

Android iOS

News360

This app is one of the most well-known news aggregation apps for a reason. The app looks great, it’s very straightforward, and offers rich content. It’s similar to Flipboard, in that you search for your favorite topics, or specific news sites, and make a list. Not only does it offer an iMessage app, but also an Apple Watch app for iOS users. You can also connect the app to your Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus to share the news, and it supports Pocket, Instapaper, and Evernote integration. It also allows you to save stories, so you can read them later. This is definitely a must-have app when it comes to news.

Download now for:

Android iOS

If you have a very busy day and would rather save your news for later, check out our picks for best read-it-later apps.

Update: We’ve taken a second look at this list and condensed it to the best 20 mobile news apps.

The world’s fastest drone flies at almost 1/4 the speed of sound

Why it matters to you

New Guinness World Record showcases just how impressively speedy drones are becoming.

Capable of reaching speeds of around 40 mph miles per hour, regular drones are not exactly dawdlers. But when you are dealing with specially designed racing drones, things are on another level — and the Drone Racing League has the Guinness World Record to prove it!

In a record set last week, the Drone Racing League achieved a new drone speed record of 163.5 mph. While we’ve seen some fast drones before, the Drone Racing League’s DRL RacerX is almost mind-bogglingly fast for a battery-powered remote quadcopter. To put it in perspective, it is not quite on a level with the world’s absolute fastest sports cars, but it is certainly going to outrun pretty much every vehicle you see on the road. Hey, one-fifth the speed of sound is not exactly bad!

“We’re thrilled to put our proprietary technology to the test, as we’re all about speed and pushing the limits of drone design here at DRL,” Nicholas Horbaczewski, Drone Racing League CEO and founder, said in a statement. “The record-setting RacerX represents the culmination of years of technological innovation by our team of world-class engineers, and we’re very excited to unveil the fastest racing drone on earth.”

PRNewsfoto/Drone Racing League

The DRL RacerX was handbuilt by Ryan Gury, who serves as Director of Product for the Drone Racing League, and a team of dedicated engineers who feel a similar need for speed. Their lovingly crafted quadcopter speedster weighs just 800 grams and runs on a 42V powertrain and twin 1,300-mAh lithium-polymer batteries. According to its creators, earlier prototypes of the drone actually burst into flames when hitting the highest point of acceleration.

To set the Guinness World Record, the DRL RacerX had to fly back and forth across a measurement course of 328 feet, with the official speed record resulting from an average of the top speeds achieved during these various flights. The drone managed to reach a top speed of 179.6 mph, but due to the averaging process that determined how the record was recorded, this did not count as the final score. An official Guinness World Record adjudicator was on hand to oversee the successful record attempt.

The astronauts now have a camera drone — and it looks like a modern Weebo

Why it matters to you

Ground crews can now see what the ISS crew sees in real time and from any angle, tech that could influence future space exploration robots.

Camera drones offer a unique aerial perspective, but what if you are already 249 miles above the earth? The International Space Station now has a floating remote camera, the International Ball Camera or Int-Ball. The Int-Ball is the first camera that can record video in space while being controlled from the earth, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), who shared the first shots from the device on July 14.

JAXA estimates that the astronauts at the ISS spend about ten percent of their working hours taking pictures — the Int-Ball aims to help free up some of that time with a hands-free camera that can view the interior of the ISS from any angle. The spherical camera drone, which looks like it was torn from the pages of a science fiction novel, allows the ground crew to see what the on-board crew sees, which helps the two groups to work together on different experiments.

The camera doesn’t look like the drones used on earth — the spherical camera’s exterior is more reminiscent of Weebo from the Robin Williams movie Flubber than a quadcopter. Nevertheless, the system is actually based on existing technology, JAXA says. Unlike the earth-bound camera drones, the Int-Ball is designed to move around in zero gravity, with 12 different fans arranged on the inside to allow the robotic camera to move through space on more than one axis – it utilizes three, in fact.

Both the machine’s interior and exterior parts were created from 3D printing. The two eyes make it easy for on-board astronauts to see what the camera is looking at, since the lens is actually located between those two “eyes.”

The Int-Ball can move around the space station all on its own, while the ground crew at the JAXA Tsukuba Space Center can also direct the drone, as well as stopping and starting photos and video from the device. The images are sent to earth in real time before being sent back to the ISS crew.

The Int-Ball is currently going through the initial verification process aboard ISS, but JAXA says the spherical camera drone is expected to help enhance technology that could be used on future missions. One of the camera’s objectives is to give the ground crew the ability to move anywhere at any time to record data in the form of images and video.